


A Walk on the Wild Side.

by steeleye



Series: Military Faith. [11]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Law and Order SVU - Fandom
Genre: Action, Crime, Gen, Humour, crossover fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-09 04:52:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10404351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steeleye/pseuds/steeleye
Summary: A 'Military Faith' story; Faith is out for payback when she and Willow go to New York on the trail of the demon who’d raped Faith in ‘The Girl in the Cellar’.





	1. Chapter 1

A Walk on the Wild Side.

By Steeleye.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or ‘Law and Order, SVU’, neither do I claim authorship of any scripted words used in this fic. I write these stories for fun not profit.

 **Crossover:** Law and Order SVU.

 **Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar:** Written in glorious English-English which is different to American-English.

 **Timeline:** A Military Faith story set after the events portrayed in, ‘Retribution’.

 **Words:** Five chapters of 2500+ words.

 **Warnings:** Nothing that should worry anyone who’s seen an episode of L &O SVU.

 **Summary:** A 'Military Faith' story; Faith is out for payback when she and Willow go to New York on the trail of the demon who’d raped Faith in ‘The Girl in the Cellar’.

0=0=0=0

_Look in his eyes, this man, he'll tell you nothing  
You'll have to do what he says if you  
Look in his eyes, this man, it's no use running  
I know I mustn't look back at him._

_(Somebody's following, following me)  
I feel a chill that runs straight to the bone  
(Somebody's following, following me)  
I've never felt so alone and I know that I'm not mistaken  
(There's been other young girls he's taken)  
If I happen to take just one look in his eyes  
He will turn me to ice, oh why can't I run away?*_

*: ‘Following Me’; Peter Knight (Steeleye Span).

0=0=0=0

**Riverside Park, New York City, May 2009.**

“Tony!” Stephanie Pollack called after her five year old son as he ran along the path after their dog, Spot, “Don’t let Spot lead!”

“It’s alright Mom!” Tony called back with all the unbounded confidence of a five year old who thought he could take on he world.

Finding herself having to run and push the stroller with her other son in it after her wayward five-year-old, Stephanie called out again.

“SPOT, HEEL!” Stephanie cried as she ran to catch her older son while Mark, the two-year-old in the stroller laughed thinking this was a great game.

By now Spot had complete control of the situation and was heading off the path and down a slope to where a clump of bushes grew, something smelt really interesting in those bushes.

“SPOT!” Stephanie called as she pulled off the path, “Get your ass back here!”

Leaving the stroller with Mark still in it at the top of slope Stephanie ran down the incline after her dog and her other son.

0=0=0=0

Everything felt weird, like she wasn’t really there, like she was watching this on TV or something. Moving towards the stroller, Brenda wondered why anyone would leave a stroller with a baby in it just sitting there by the path. Walking over to the pushchair, Brenda looked down at the child who was now looking up at her uncertainly. Once, what felt like hundreds of years ago, she’d had a little boy just like this one, but now he was gone. He’d died when her mother’s trailer had burnt down one night. Mom always liked to smoke in bed, until one night it’d killed her. Brenda smiled sadly at the child as she squatted down next to the stroller, she’d been in Iraq when it had happened, the Army had flown her home for the funeral, but that didn’t make it not happen.

0=0=0=0

“Bad dog!” Stephanie said firmly once she’d caught up with her boy and his dog; Spot looked up at her as if to say, *Who me?* Turning at the sound of Mark’s crying, Stephanie looked up the slope to see someone in an old army jacket crouching next to her child.

“Stop!” Stephanie called as she started up the slope as fast as she’d just come down, “STOP!” Mark screamed as she rushed towards her baby and the woman who was threatening him, “STOP! Get away from my baby!”

Coming up the hill to confront the woman, Stephanie slowed down as the blonde woman in the army jacket stood up and turned towards her. There was something wrong here, now she was closer Stephanie could see that the short blonde was only wearing the army jacket and a pair of panties. She wore no shoes and the jacket was hanging open to expose her left breast and the dog-tags that hung around her neck.

“Oh my god,” Stephanie whispered more to herself than to attracted anyone’s attention.

Now she was standing this close, Stephanie could see the bruises on the young woman’s face and torso. Letting her eyes travel down the blonde’s body she saw the blood on her inner thighs and the strange green gunk that trickled down her legs to mix with the blood.

“He was crying…” Brenda said as if from a thousand miles away.

“Oh my god!” Stephanie repeated this time drawing some reaction from the passers-by; feeling like a fool she asked, “Are you okay?”

Stupid thing to say, Stephanie told herself, of course the woman wasn’t okay. 

Looking down at herself, Brenda seemed to be seeing her body for the first time. Where was her uniform? Where was all that blood coming from? How had she got so beaten up? What was that stinking green stuff on her legs? All these apparently unanswerable questions started to overwhelm her mind. Looking at the woman with the baby Brenda sensed the world start to spin. Coughing as bright green bile started to trickle from her mouth, Brenda’s knees gave out and she fell to the ground.

0=0=0=0

**St Mary’s Hospital, New York City.**

Pulling on a fresh pair of latex gloves, Detective Olivia Benson stepped out of the elevator, she smiled when she saw her partner, Elliot Stabler, was already there waiting for her.

“What have we got?” Olivia asked as she joined Elliot and they started to walk down the busy hospital corridor together.

“Staff Sergeant Brenda Mitchell, US Army Military Police, aged twenty-six,” Elliot glanced at the slim file in his hand, “raped, beaten, found wandering in Riverside Park.”

“How’s she doing?” Olivia asked the doctor who was waiting for them at the nurse’s station.

“I’ve seen a lot worse,” admitted the young doctor, “judging from the dirt and cuts on her feet she’d been wondering around for hours.”

“Explains why CSU couldn’t find the crime scene,” Elliot explained, “How about the Rape Kit?”

“Positive for fluids, bruising and tearing, but,” the doctor gestured for the detectives to follow him; they all headed off towards a private treatment room, “I’m more worried about her mental state.”

0=0=0=0

“Get offa me!” cried a voice with a slight West Virginian accent.

The doctor burst into the treatment room, followed by Benson and Stabler to see his patient struggling with a large, black nurse. 

“Let me outta here!” cried the petite blonde as she struggled with the nurse, she appeared to be getting the upper hand too.

“Honey,” the nurse replied as soothingly as she knew how, “you’re in no condition to…OW!”

The nurse stumbled back from the bed clutching her bloody nose as the short blonde caught her balance after striking out and tried to get out of bed. Moving quickly the doctor went to the aid of the nurse as Benson and Stabler grabbed the girl and pushed her back down onto the bed.

“Brenda! Brenda!” Olivia cried, “Calm down you’re in shock!”

“What? No!” Brenda continued to struggle with the two cops but their combined strength enabled them to wrestle her back into bed, “No! I have to be in Korea on Friday!”

“It is Friday,” Elliot said soothingly, “Today’s Friday; you’ve lost track of time, you were attacked.”

“What y’all mean?” Brenda started to settle down and hear what she was being told; how could it be Friday already surely it was only Thursday morning?

“You were raped,” Olivia explained pulling no punches; it was often best to come straight out with this sort of news instead of trying to sugar-coat it.

“Oh my god,” Brenda gasped as she started to fully appreciate what was happening to her, “Why don’t I remember?”

0=0=0=0

A little while later after Brenda had showered, Olivia walked back into the treatment room.

“Hey, Brenda,” Olivia gave her a sympathetic smile as she crossed the room to stand next to the bed, “how y’doin’?”

“I feel so stupid,” Brenda replied as she lay back on the bed.

“It’ll probably take a while to get over it,” Olivia explained, she noticed Brenda wince as she moved her legs, “Those bruises are from where your attacker used his knees to force your legs apart.”

“I don’t understand,” Brenda looked up at the detective, “I’m an MP, f’Christ’s sake, I know how to look out for myself, I just wouldn’t let myself get raped, Jeez I give lectures to girl-recruits on how to keep safe an’…”

“Brenda this can happen to anyone,” Olivia tried to make Brenda feel better about herself, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“But not to me,” Brenda speared Olivia with a hard look, “not again.”

“You’ve been raped before?” Olivia asked shocked at the revelation. 

“Sorta,” Brenda admitted, “when I was fifteen…I got pregnant, the guy went to prison.”

“You have a child?” Olivia wanted to know.

“Not anymore he died in a fire when I was in Iraq,” Brenda explained.

“I’m sorry…” Olivia began but was interrupted by Brenda.

“Don’t be,” Brenda sniffed, “I’m over it…or at least I thought I was…” she looked up at Olivia, “…why can’t I remember?”

“Because we think you were drugged,” Olivia was glad to get back onto something she could deal with; compared to Brenda’s life her own troubles didn’t seem so bad.

“Like with ‘Roofie’?” Brenda knew that couldn’t happen, one of her golden rules was she never left her drink unattended in a bar.

“Or GHB, its very easy to slip it into somebody’s drink when they’re not looking,” Olivia pointed out, “We’ll know for sure when your tox screen comes back.”

“How could I have been so stupid?” Brenda asked herself, she knew all the dangers and what had she been doing in a bar in the first place?

Brenda’d been passing through New York to catch a civilian flight to Korea, she was taking confidential documents that were too sensitive to be sent electronically to Army HQ in Seoul. If those documents were lost she was going to be in so much crap she’d be lucky to get out of jail in time to pick up her pension.

“Okay,” Olivia sat down on a stool next to the bed, “is there anything you remember about yesterday?”

“No, its all a blank…” Brenda sighed.

“What about yesterday morning, where are you stationed?” Olivia asked hoping to jog Brenda’s memory.

“No, I…” Brenda paused as a few hazy memories came back to her, “…I’m stationed at Fort Hamilton, I was packing some stuff for my trip to Korea, just enough for an overnight, y’know this wasn’t a pleasure trip.”

“Can I ask why you were being sent to Korea?” Olivia prompted.

“Nothing super secret,” Brenda gave a half smile, “just some documents that needed hand carrying…” Brenda took a deep breath, “…I-I remember a Hummer arrived to pick me up from Company HQ at about thirteen-hundred and then…” Brenda frowned as her mind came up blank, “…and then everything is just a blank.”

“Okay,” Olivia nodded as she got up to leave, “we’ll leave it at that, perhaps something will come back to you later.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Brenda sighed despondently, but she really didn’t think it would, “Oh and detective,” Brenda called as Olivia started to head for the door, “tell that nurse I’m real sorry I hit her would yur?”

“Yeah, sure,” Olivia nodded before leaving the room.

0=0=0=0

**16th Precinct, SVU Squad Room.**

“Okay our vic is one, Staff Sergeant Brenda Mitchell, twenty-six originally from West Virginia now based at Fort Hamilton,” Elliot started to explain as his colleagues joined him by his desk, “She’s been in the Army for seven years including two tours of Iraq where she picked up a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart; she was also attached to the Marines when they landed on Nunca-Aterriza back in ’06.” Elliot paused for a moment wondering how an army MP got to go ashore with the Marines in a combat zone.

“Her C/O describes her as a dedicated soldier,” Elliot went on, “however before going to Iraq for the first time she was a something of a washout, seems Iraq made her shake up her ideas…”

“Well it has to be good for something,” Detective Munch observed quietly and received a sharp look from his partner, Detective Tutuola.

“…and the cherry on top of the icing is that the Army’s going to send their own investigators to oversee the case,” Elliot added dryly.

“That’s all we want,” Munch remarked, “bunch of soldiers tramping around trying to cover everything up.”

“Look, just what are you trying to say?” Fin Tutuola wanted to know, he was an ex-Ranger.

“I’m just saying that the army is famous for trying to cover up stuff like this,” Munch explained himself, “it was probably some general who did this…”

“Okay, settle down guys,” Elliot raised his voice slightly to get everyone’s attention, “I’m sure everything will work out fine, Captain Cragen has assured me that we’ll be keeping the lead on the case, the army’s only here to observe and help out if the perp is in the military.”

“That sounds unusually helpful of them,” Munch pointed out.

“Yeah, well…” Elliot didn’t get to say anything else because he was interrupted by Dr Warner the unit’s Medical Examiner.

“Okay,” Melinda Warner walked determinedly towards the little huddle of detectives, it was unusual to see her in the squad room, so this had to be important, “which one of you jokers sent this down with the Mitchell rape kit?”

Dr Warner held a vile of viscous green liquid up between her thumb and her forefinger.

“Erm…” Elliot frowned, “…that would have been the hospital staff,” he shuffled through the notes in the case file, “a Doctor French, why what’s wrong?”

“Well I don’t know what it is but I’ve got a couple of test tubes full of the stuff, it came with the rape kit,” Warner repeated.

“Hold on,” Elliot fumbled with several loose sheets of paper until he found the report he was looking for, “it says here that about a hundred millilitres of an unknown, thick green fluid was found inside the victim…erm…the hospital staff particularly noted its foul smell…”

“That would be it then,” Warner looked at the little plastic vial she was holding in her hand, “almost stank out the lab when I opened it…I thought one of you guys was playing a particularly stupid practical joke or something.”

“Not us,” Elliot shook his head.

“Hey, something like that sounds pretty unusual,” Munch went and sat down at his computer and started to search the police data bases for anything similar, “it’s sure to have been noted…down…some…”

Munch’s voice faded away to nothing as he read the file on his screen.

“Have you got something?” Elliot asked.

“Erm, only one hit and you’re not going to like it…” Munch looked up at Elliot and shrugged.

“Why?” the big detective wanted to know.

“Because it involves the army,” Munch informed him, “its an old NCIS case from back in ’06…”

“Okay, lets have it,” Elliot sighed as everyone sat down and made themselves comfortable.

“Okay,” Munch took a deep breath, “back in November ’06 an Army Staff Sergeant was kidnapped, NCIS were involved because they were working on a parallel case at the time. The Sergeant escaped from her captor, she’d been drugged and repeatedly raped, the Navy ME found a ‘viscous green fluid’ inside the kidnap victim that matched the same fluid found inside the perp in an unusual organ in his stomach…”

“So the perp was tracked down and killed?” Fin asked.

“Apparently he was one of the Chaplains’ at Norfolk Navel Base, he committed suicide when he was confronted by the Army and Navy’s investigators.” Munch smiled smugly.

“Okay John what else is there?” Elliot could just tell Munch was bursting to tell them something more.

“You just won’t believe who the kidnap victim was…” Munch smiled knowingly, he loved it when his conspiracy theories came together.

“Surprise me,” Fin said in a bored voice.

“The victim was one Staff Sergeant Faith Lehane, who happened to be sharing a house with a Corporal Brenda Mitchell at the time,” if anything Munch’s smile got wider, “The Army Investigator was a Lt Colonel Mann who now commands the army’s Special Investigation Division and is Lehane’s new C/O when Lehane’s not playing Rangers with the 613th Ranger Battalion…oh and the army confiscated all of NCIS’s records on the case, and the perps body…” Munch gave one last self satisfied smile.

“Coincidence,” Elliot said with a shrug designed to jerk Munch’s chain.

0=0=0=0


	2. Chapter 2

2.

**St Mary’s Hospital, New York City.**

“So, this ‘Brenda’ is your ex?” Willow asked as she and Faith rode the elevator up to the third floor where the hospital was keeping Brenda Mitchell.

“Yeah,” Faith replied seemingly unconcerned as she looked up at the floor indicator above the door.

“Oh,” Willow shifted uncomfortably in her smart business suit, “so, this is the person you called ‘B’?”

“Yep,” Faith nodded, studiously ignoring Willow’s worried expression.

“Oh,” Willow repeated; she found herself thinking, ‘Faith’s old girlfriend, huh?’

What if Faith suddenly decided she wanted to get back together with her ex? What if she left her for this obviously super sexy, blonde tramp? What if…?

“We broke up just before Christmas 2006,” Faith explained, “later, when I got my transfer to ASID, we sorta lost track of each other, I haven’t seen her for a couple of years.”

“Oh,” Willow said once more.

“So ya needn’t worry about me running off with my ex again,” Faith turned to Willow and grinned, “I’m with you now…one-witch-girl that’s me.”

“No!” Willow tried to explain, “I never thought you’d…” Willow got a little tongue tied for a moment, she paused and tried again, “…I’m not suggesting…”

“Yes you were,” Faith said with a smile, “I know ya quite well by now, Will, you were getting all insecure and thinking I was going to run off with B and leave ya.”

“Well…” Willow found she couldn’t look Faith in the eye, that was exactly what she’d been thinking, “…I’d never think…” Willow saw Faith raise an eyebrow, the gesture told her that Faith would see through any story she might try to use, “…yeah, okay…” she sighed, “…I admit it, I’m an insecure baby.”

“Yeah you are,” Faith agreed, “but ya my insecure baby, okay?”

The elevator *dinged* as it arrived at their floor and the doors started to open, Willow kept what she’d wanted to say to herself, now was not the time they had work to do.

Following Faith out of the elevator, Willow saw a typical hospital corridor scene with nurses, doctors and orderlies walking briskly to-and-fro. However, there was one glaring incongruity, there was a soldier standing at ease outside one of the rooms. Glancing uncertainly at Faith, Willow got an answering shrug before Faith headed off down the corridor, she came to a halt in front of the soldier who was dressed in camouflaged uniform.

“Hi, Corporal,” Faith said in a friendly voice, “guarding Sergeant Mitchell?”

“Erm…” the soldier looked uncomfortable and then looked up and down the corridor apprehensively before answering, “more like guarding the prisoner, Chief.”

Willow could tell that the soldier didn’t like the job he was doing.

“Say what?” Faith asked incredulously before demanding, “Who’s in charge and were is the asshole?”

“Lieutenant Moore, Ma’am,” the Corporal replied straight faced, he gestured to the corridor to his right, “she’s down the corridor in the lounge area talking to the doctor in charge of Sergeant Mitchell’s case.”

“Miss Rosenberg,” Faith turned to look over her shoulder at Willow; calling Willow, ‘Miss Rosenberg’ was Faith’s way of saying this was official army business; “Would ya mind waiting here, while I _deal_ with this?”

“No way!” Willow grinned, “I wouldn’t miss this for anything!” If looks could kill, Willow would be stretched out in the morgue right about now, “Will there be any ‘ass-roasting’?”

The Corporal let out a short bark of laughter at this; he was prevented from showing any further signs of hilarity by a glare from Faith. Turning her basilisk-like glare onto Willow, Faith was confronted by a grinning witch.

“Remember,” Willow smiled coyly, contriving to look like a naughty twelve year old, “so not army, I’m a civilian I can go where I please.”

“I’ll deal with ya later,” Faith replied quietly.

“Oh yes please!” Willow whispered coquettishly.

With a quiet ‘Jeez!’ Faith headed on down the corridor in the direction the Corporal had indicated. Turning the corner, Faith saw the little lounge area and more importantly the tall thin army officer standing talking to a concerned looking doctor. 

“How soon can I move Mitchell to prison, Doctor?” the officer asked.

The officer was tall, taller than Faith, very slim, her dark brown hair done up in a bun under her beret. Her DCU’s were immaculately pressed and her boots were shined to a mirror finish…just like Faith’s. The main difference between the two women, was that while the front of Faith uniform jacket was covered in combat badges and marksmanship badges and badges Willow didn’t even know the meaning of (but that fact didn’t make her feel any less proud of her girlfriend) the officer’s jacket was bereft of any such decoration. Walking up to the officer, Faith nodded politely to the doctor before turning to the officer.

“What the hell is going on here?” Faith demanded and Willow felt grateful she wasn’t the Lieutenant.

“W-What?” Lieutenant Moore turned in surprise to look down her nose at Faith, “What’s the meaning of this Chief Warrant Officer,” Moore made a show of looking at Faith’s name tag, “Lehane?”

Willow had to feel a little admiration for this Moore woman, she’d hardly flinched when Faith had burst into her life; Willow noticed the doctor take the opportunity to sneak off, sensible man, she thought.

“What’s this about Sergeant Mitchell being a prisoner?” Faith demanded, “Y’do know that she was kidnapped and raped don’t ya?”

“That remains to be seen,” Moore replied haughtily, “as I see it she got drunk and went AWOL and lost secret army documents!”

‘Ouch!’ Willow winced, she had to give Moore her due, she was certainly brave. 

One of Faith’s many good qualities was that she was loyal to her friends. Show Faith a little kindness and she was your friend for life, unless you did something _very_ stupid and then she’d come after you like a fury from hell. Willow realised this now and felt ashamed that she and Buffy and the others hadn’t seen it when they’d first met Faith in Sunnydale; the girl had been crying out for love and friendship. But like the stupid teenagers they’d been they’d not seen it; of course now Willow was doing everything in her power to make it up to her.

“AWOL!?” Faith snapped, “She only went missing for twenty-four hours…less even!”

“All the same…” Moore started to reply but was brought up short by Faith.

“What you think doesn’t matter,” Faith told Moore, “this is an ASID case now,” Faith gestured to her black and white armband, “so you can get yourself and your people outta here.”

“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to Lehane!” Moore demanded, “I can have you busted down to civilian, now…”

“Listen up,” Faith stepped right up to the woman and whispered menacingly into her face, “I’ll say this slowly so even you can understand…this is an ASID case, you will take yourself and your people back to whatever stone ya crawled out from under this morning. Or, ya can stay here before ya get ya transfer to Afghanistan or maybe Alaska…your choice.”

“I’m reporting you to my C/O,” Moore still wouldn’t back down.

“Yo,” Faith grinned insolently at the Lieutenant, “bet my General’s bigger than yours.”

“Ah…” Willow stepped forward, it was time for her to intervene before this got ‘messy’, “…I’m Willow Rosenberg I work directly for General Brittles,” Willow didn’t, not officially, she worked as a civilian consultant for ASID, but what Moore didn’t know would probably save her career, “I think you’d be wise to check with your C/O before you make any more mistakes today.”

Willow could see Moore hesitate, General Brittles had something of a reputation in the military justice system. Giving Willow a look of angry frustration, Moore pulled a cellphone from her pocket and called her C/O. There was a short, whispered conversation that ended with Moore snapping her phone shut angrily before storming off down the corridor.

“You better watch out for her, sweetie,” Willow stood next to Faith and spoke so that only she could hear, “she strikes me as the type that holds a grudge.”

“Y’think?” Faith turned to Willow and smiled evilly, “Bring it on!”

“Faith, no!” Willow cried as she chased Faith down the corridor.

0=0=0=0

Willow needn’t have worried, Faith didn’t chase after Moore and really roast her ass, instead she turned off the corridor and went into the room the MP Corporal had been guarding. Following Faith into the room, Willow was just in time to see Faith and her ex greet each other.

“BITCH!” Faith snarled.

“Hey!” Brenda looked up at Faith in surprise, “I haven’t seen y’all in years and yur call _me_ a bitch?”

“Not you B,” Faith calmed down instantly as she moved towards Brenda’s bed and began searching her pockets for something, “I mean that bitch of an MP officer.”

Looking around Faith, Willow saw that Brenda Mitchell’s wrist was handcuffed to her bed.

“Oh Moore,” Brenda watched as Faith unlocked the cuffs, “total asshole…” she whispered in Faith’s ear as she bent over her, “…who’s the redhead?” 

“Oh yeah,” for just a second, Faith felt a little uncomfortable but soon recovered enough to make introductions, “Brenda Mitchell this is Willow Rosenberg…we work together.”

“Hi Brenda,” Willow forced any sign of jealous insecurity out of her voice.

“Hi Willow,” Brenda grinned, “you work with Faith?” Willow nodded, “Brave…” Brenda added then caught the look on Willow’s face, “…hey! You two don’t just work together, right?”

“Well, erm…” Faith hesitated.

“Yeah,” Willow came and stood next to Faith and grabbed hold of her arm, “that’s right…” she wanted to add; ‘you wanna make something of that?’ but didn’t.

“Cool,” Brenda smiled before looking back at Faith, “always did admire your taste in women, Faith.”

“Okay, whatever,” Faith sighed, “I’ve come to talk to you about your…erm…”

“Rape?” Brenda supplied, “Its okay you can say the word, I’m okay with it…well as much as yur can be. I don’t remember any of it, it’s like it didn’t happen to me. I can’t really tell yur more than I told the Leos…”

“Tell me anyway,” Faith said quietly as she pulled up a stool and sat down; Willow stepped back to stand against the wall as she slowly became ‘unseen’ so as to give Faith and Brenda some privacy.

“Look its like I told the cops,” Brenda began, “I got picked up from CHQ at Fort Hamilton at about thirteen-hundred on Thursday afternoon. I was dropped off at JFK about an hour later and I can’t remember anything else ‘til I woke up here.”

“Nothing?” Faith pressed her old friend.

“Like it’s a big black hole, between fourteen-hundred on Thursday ‘til about whenever I woke up here,” Brenda shrugged.

“Erm…” Willow stepped away from the wall and became completely visible again, “…there’s some techniques I could try,” she meant magics, “that might recover some memories,” she looked directly at Brenda, “if you wanna try.”

“Like hypnosis?” Brenda asked.

“Something like that,” Willow nodded.

“Okay,” Brenda shrugged, “as long as yur don’t make me bark like a chicken.”

“Bark like a chicken?” Willow frowned.

“Yeah,” Brenda grinned, “that would be _real_ embarrassing.”

“Gotta say, B, ya dealing with this pretty well,” Faith remembered her own experience of being drugged, held prisoner and repeatedly raped, she’d not handled it at all well.

“It’s like I say, Faith,” Brenda gestured helplessly, “it’s like I wasn’t there I have no memories of any of it.”

Faith nodded her head, she couldn’t remember the actual ‘rape’ part of her kidnapping either; she just remembered waking up and having to deal with the aftermath. Some how her rapist had been able to drug her and keep her awake but helpless, but she couldn’t remember a thing about the actual assault.

“Hey,” Brenda gave her full attention to Willow, “if you do your stuff and I remember something, will that mean I’ll be able to remember it after you’ve finished?”

“If you want,” Willow replied, “I can block the memory but it might come back some day.”

Just recently Willow had been studying memory spells in the hopes of finding a way to cure Faith’s amnesia if Faith ever wanted it cured.

“I…I think I’d like you to look,” Brenda said quietly, “but don’t try to block the memories I’d rather know than spend my life waiting for the memory to come back…” Brenda forced a smile, “…hey, if it helps catch this bastard?”

“Okay, if you’re sure?” Willow asked; she got an answering nod from Brenda. “Right,” Willow turned to Faith, “could you guard the door and stop anyone from coming in, this shouldn’t take more than five or ten minutes.”

Waiting until Faith had gone outside, Willow closed the window blinds and switched on the over bed reading lamp before switching off the main lights.

“Will it hurt?” Brenda asked semi-seriously.

“Nah,” Willow shook her head as she sat next to Brenda’s bed, “you won’t feel a thing…now you sure about wanting those memories back?”

“I’m sure,” Brenda nodded, “I…”

“SOMNUS!” Willow commanded and Brenda fell instantly asleep, “Okay,” Willow said quietly as she placed her fingers at certain points on Brenda’s head; she smiled a little when she realised she must look like someone doing a ‘Vulcan Mind-meld’, “lets see what we’ve got in here?”

0=0=0=0

Five minutes later, Willow called Faith back into the room.

“Is she okay?” Faith looked down at Brenda.

“She’s just sleeping,” Willow reassured her, “I can wake her up if you want?”

“Nah,” Faith shook her head, “not yet…did ya find anything?”

“Nothing,” Willow looked worried and glanced at the sleeping woman, “it’s like she said, there’s a big black hole in her memories. It’s like she didn’t exist for about twenty-four hours.”

“God-damn-it!” Faith cursed quietly, “You mean there’s nothing?”

“Big fat zero,” Willow confirmed.

“Crap,” Faith almost spat the word out.

“Y’think this is the same thing that got you?” Willow wanted to know.

“If it is,” Faith shrugged, “it’s changed its M-O, we should be finding mummified bodies in cellars or the Anti-Christ walking the streets of Manhattan. This could still be a human rapist using drugs.”

“Erm, honey I did detect something,” Willow explained slowly, “while I was in Brenda’s mind there was something…very small…but it felt like dark mojo, just a tiny trace, y’know?”

“A spell?” Faith asked.

“Can’t explain it any other way,” Willow glanced down at Brenda, “unless your ex has been dabbling in the black arts.”

“Not her style,” Faith reassured Willow. 

“Well,” Willow shrugged, “there’s nothing more I can tell you.”

“Okay,” Faith nodded slowly, “can you wake her up and then I’d like a moment alone with her.”

“Sure,” Willow smiled as she headed for the door, “but, you can do it yourself, just count backwards from five and she’ll wake up.”

Leaving Faith and Brenda alone, Willow walked out into the corridor and rested against the wall. She’d not been able to help herself and to be honest she didn’t feel too guilty about what she’d done. After all, what woman wouldn’t take a little peek into the mind of her girlfriend’s ex if she had the chance?

Although Willow had found signs of affection towards Faith in Brenda’s mind the young woman was so over Faith; she even seemed happy that Faith’d found someone new. All Brenda’s love and attention was now focused on one of her male colleagues, Willow had no worries about Brenda coming back into Faith’s life and trying to steal her away.

“Hey,” Faith crossed the corridor to where Willow stood, “what are you looking so happy about?”

“Oh, nothing,” Willow lied, she changed the subject, “Is Brenda okay?”

“Yeah she’s cool with it,” Faith replied, “she’s tough, she’ll deal.”

“What about that Moore person?” Willow wanted to know as she joined Faith in walking towards the elevator.

“I’ll call Colonel Mann and ask her to square everything with Brenda’s C/O,” Faith pressed the call button for the lift.

“So, where to now?” Willow enjoyed this detective work.

“16th Precinct, see my old friends at Special Victims,” Faith stepped into the elevator with Willow close behind her.

“Special Victims?” Willow queried.

“Yeah,” Faith nodded as the elevator took them towards the ground floor, “sex crimes.”

0=0=0=0


	3. Chapter 3

3.

**16th Precinct, SVU Squad Room.**

Looking up from his computer screen, Munch was just in time to see the camouflage uniformed figure of Chief Warrant Officer Lehane walk into the squad room. She was followed by an attractive redhead who, in contrast to Lehane’s warlike appearance, wore a smart dark grey business suit that just screamed ‘Fed’. Watching as Lehane and her partner walked over to join Stabler and Benson, Munch cleared his screen of what he’d been researching before casually walking over to join Elliot and Olivia.

“Hi, Detective Stabler,” Faith held out her hand to the big detective, “remember me?”

“How could I forget?” standing up Stabler towered over Faith and Willow, he took Faith’s hand in his own and shook it warmly, “how’s it going Chief?”

“Not so bad,” Faith admitted as she shook Olivia’s hand, “did ya ever catch that murderin’ rapist?”

“No,” Elliot shook his head sadly, “we never even had a suspect.” the entire Kersey case had ended strangely, Stabler shrugged as if to say, ‘you win some, you lose some’, “So, who’s your friend?”

“Sorry,” Faith smiled apologetically, “this is my partner, Willow Rosenberg she’s a civilian consultant with ASID…so has there been any movement on the Mitchell case?”

“You’re the army investigator assigned to make sure we don’t find out too much, right?” Munch asked before Elliot could say anything.

Turning her head slightly and studying Detective Munch for a moment, Willow very quickly decided she didn’t like him very much. The mention of the ‘Kersey Case’ made Willow’s ears prick up however. Back in February, Zoe Kersey’s mother and younger sister had been raped and murdered in their own apartment. After the police had failed to track down the killers, Zoe had gone on a killing spree taking down muggers and rapists on the New York streets. Normally as the case didn’t have any other-worldly connections Willow wouldn’t have paid it much attention. However, Zoe Kersey was a slayer so Willow had paid attention to all the news coming out of New York about the case.

After killing at least eleven low lives (to be honest Willow was on the side of Zoe even if she was acting outside the law) Zoe had been captured after being shot. Then things had gone a little weird. Within a couple of days of being arrested, Zoe escaped from hospital and vanished. Strangely the city of New York hadn’t shown very much interest in finding her again and Giles denied that he’d exerted any influence to get Zoe released. Willow was inclined to believe him. Anyway, she had no interest in catching young slayers whom she secretly sympathised with, the Mitchell case was much more important at the moment.

“No,” there was a sharp edge to Faith’s voice when she turned to speak to Munch making him step back a half pace as Willow suppressed a small grin. “I’m the army investigator who’s goin’ to help out and make sure the army gives you every co-operation in this case. The US Army doesn’t like its female soldiers being kidnapped and raped.”

“Especially if they’re carrying secret documents,” Munch added.

“Hey!” Faith really snapped now making Munch step back again, “Just what is it ya trying to say Detective Big Ears?”

“Hey!” Elliot stepped between Faith and Munch before someone got punched; he’d seen Faith subdue a berserk perp high on PCP without breaking a sweat so he imagined that she could punch pretty hard. “Okay, lets calm down here, we’re all supposed to be on the same side, right?”

“Sorry,” Faith replied quickly, “it’s just that Brenda Mitchell is an old buddy of mine, y’know?”

A warning glance from Elliot prevented Munch from adding his own comment.

“So how is Sergeant Mitchell?” Olivia asked hoping to get the conversation back onto the case.

“St Mary’s released her back to the army,” Faith informed the group, “she’ll be in Fort Hamilton’s medical facility for a couple of days then she’ll be on local sick leave for a week…”

“If the army doesn’t post her to some out of the way place where we can’t talk to her,” Munch just didn’t know when not to push.

“Why you…” Faith’s hands turned into fists as she took a step towards Munch.

“Enough!” Willow cried and for a couple of seconds no one could speak, it was as if their lips had been glued shut, once something approaching calm had been restored Willow allowed everyone to speak again, she turned to Munch, “Detective,” Willow smiled the sort of smile that turned brave men’s blood to ice, “you seem to have a problem with the Army. I can assure you that we want this case solved as much as you do and we,” Willow gestured to Faith, “are here to give you every assistance that we can…now,” Willow turned her attention back to Elliot and Olivia, “have you found anything useful yet?”

“We’re waiting for the CCTV footage to arrive,” Olivia answered as she ran a finger over her lips and frowned.

“Good,” Faith, who seemed to be her usual professional self again stepped forward, “I’ve spoken to the driver of the Humvee that dropped Brenda Mitchell off at JFK, he can confirm that Sergeant Mitchell arrived at the airport at fourteen-oh-five plus or minus a couple of minutes.”

“Good,” Elliot gave a sigh of relief, “at least that’ll stop us having to look through hours of images…any idea which entrance she used?”

“Hold on,” Faith got out her note book and flipped through a couple of pages, “nah,” she shook her head, “driver just remembers the time ‘cause he had something else to do and was worried about getting back to base on time.”

“Okay so we assume she came in through the main gate,” Olivia commented.

“As good a place to start as any,” agreed her partner.

0=0=0=0

Sitting back at his desk Munch found he couldn’t concentrate on his work. He was sifting through witness statements from Riverside Park where Mitchell had been found. Basically no one had noticed the half naked soldier wandering around the park; it didn’t really surprise him this was New York after all. No these statements would tell them nothing, if they wanted to know where Mitchell had been they’d need more clues.

Soon he lost all interest in the statements of people who were all basically saying the same thing, ‘I saw nothing’. What was really interesting him was Faith Lehane. He’d seen her once before in connection with the Kersey case and he’d been curious about her even then. A quick Google search had given him a very sanitised version of Lehane’s army career. How she was a decorated veteran of the Iraq war, but there’d been other stuff too. Like how she seemed to turn up whenever something strange happened and how she’d been recruited by ASID.

The Army Special Investigation Division was an off-shoot of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. It specialised in the odd and down right weird. Next there were Lehane’s connections to the 613th Independent Ranger Battalion and the fact that Lehane was the only woman _ever_ to pass the Ranger’s tough selection course and training regime. As to what the 613th actually did no one seemed to be able to tell him except that they worked very closely with ASID and appeared to be that unit’s ‘enforcers’. 

Add his to the rumours of Lehane’s apparent super-human abilities, she was certainly a _very_ scary woman, he’d seen that for himself; what was ASID’s interest in what looked like a normal rape case? Then there was the question on where this Willow Rosenberg fitted into the picture. Was she Lehane’s ‘keeper’ or was there something more to their relationship?

Finally there was the mystery of the photo he’d found of a much younger Lehane standing in a sports store with a bow in her hand. The photo had been very grainy having been downloaded from CCTV footage, but the figure it showed was definitely that of Lehane and another teenage girl who he’d not been able to identify. Lehane and this other girl had been in the process of robbing the store, but that wasn’t why Munch was interested. Before his computer had mysteriously burst into flames he’d found a ‘Most Wanted’ poster for Lehane on the CHiPs website saying she was wanted in connection with the murder of Allen Finch, the deputy mayor of Sunnydale. The mere mention of the town of Sunnydale had set off all Munch’s alarm bells…just before he’d had to rush off and find a fire extinguisher.

“Hi.”

The sudden sound of the woman’s voice behind him almost made Munch jump out of his skin, he turned to see Willow Rosenberg standing holding a steaming cup of tea in her hands.

“H-hi, yourself,” Munch replied having got his wildly beating heart back under control.

“Y’know,” Willow smiled, “you really shouldn’t annoy Faith like that, we really are here to help you guys out.”

“Look,” Munch replied quietly, “there’s something weird about Miss Lehane something I’m determined to get to the bottom of.”

“Whatever,” Willow shrugged, “just don’t annoy her, okay?”

“Why?” Munch wanted to know, “Will she make me disappear?”

“No…” Willow sipped her tea before smiling at Munch, she let her eyes turn black for a second or two, “…but I might.” Willow’s eyes went back to normal as she looked over as a guy from tech support walked into the room and went over to Elliot’s desk, “Hey, looks like the CCTV footage has arrived, let’s go see, huh?”

Watching Willow Rosenberg walk over to where Elliot and Olivia stood with Lehane, Munch came to the conclusion that Lehane might be a scary woman; but, Rosenberg was infinitely scarier.

0=0=0=0

“So, what-cha got?” Willow asked as she stood next to Faith and looked up at the big plasma screen.

The images showed, Brenda Mitchell enter the airport, then collect her boarding pass before checking in her duffle bag. Next she went into the boarding lounge and ordered what looked like a soda from the bar.

“Tox screen shows no alcohol in her system,” Olivia announced after looking through the case file which was growing fatter by the hour, “also no sign of any date rape drugs.”

The next scene showed Brenda sitting at the bar talking to a young, good looking, dark haired man. While everyone else was looking at the images to see if anything had in fact been put in Brenda’s drink; there was always the possibility that she’d fallen victim to a new drug or one that didn’t show up on the standard tox-screen. Willow was also watching the young man’s hands very carefully.

As the pouch containing the military documents slipped from Brenda’s hand and she bent to retrieve it, Willow was almost sure she saw him make a gesture that might have been magical. But, unfortunately as Brenda bent to pick up her pouch a waiter walked between the couple and the camera and blocked off the action for a few seconds. Finally they saw Brenda get up and leave the bar with the young man.

“Why’s she going with him?” Olivia asked, “She doesn’t look drugged, if she had been you’d expect her to stagger like she was drunk or something.”

“She checked in her bag so why’s she not going back for it,” Elliot wanted to know as he watched Brenda and the young guy get into a cab, “this looks more like a love connection than a kidnapping.”

“Erm,” Willow began quietly, “Brenda Mitchell is in a committed relationship with one of her male colleagues,” she pointed out, “I doubt she’d just go off with someone like that.”

“Okay,” Stabler shrugged, “I say we pull the cab trip-card and see where they went.”

0=0=0=0

Pulling Faith into a quiet corner of the squad room, Willow cast a privacy spell; while the spell was running everyone would ignore them and anything they said.

“What do you think?” she asked Faith.

“This could be him,” Faith admitted, “but it could just be a normal scum-bag…y’know Colonel Mann and Agent Gibbs went to arrest the bastard and he blew his brains out all over that Navy Chapel.”

“So we don’t know who the demon possessed next,” Willow mused.

“Or how long he stayed in-inco…” Faith stumbled over the word.

“Incorporeal?” Willow prompted.

“What ya said,” Faith agreed with a grin.

“Norfolk isn’t that far away from New York,” Willow pointed out, “and if he possessed someone who already lived in New York…”

“Yeah, sure,” Faith agreed, “but he’s majorly changed his M-O.”

“I love it when you talk like a real detective,” Willow grinned.

“Hey! I am a real detective.” Faith pointed out, “Look, before he was into holding women for months to see if he’d impregnated them. When he found that it hadn’t taken he’d leave them to die.”

“But there’s been no reports of mummified bodies turning up in underground cells,” Willow mused.

“Not so far,” Faith replied.

“You say the most reassuring things,” Willow gave Faith a worried look, “I’ve told you that haven’t I sweetie?”

“Yo,” Faith shrugged, “it’s what I do…look, this guy, if he is the demon, seems to pick up women, use ‘em and abuse ‘em for about twenty-four hours then lets them go.”

“Well,” Willow sighed, “it would mean he doesn’t have to look after them for months on end and he probably has a method of tracking them if he needs to check up on them later. It’d be a simple spell to cast particularly if the victim doesn’t remember anything or doesn’t know about magic.”

“Yeah,” Faith agreed, “and leaving a trail of bodies behind him is like obvious and led us to him last time…”

“He’s learning, changing his tactics,” Willow pointed out.

“…and if he hasn’t got to look after each victim for weeks or possibly months…” Faith observed.

“He can try and impregnate so many more women,” Willow gasped.

“Yeah,” Faith nodded her head slowly, “there could be hundreds of victims out there.”

“He has to be stopped,” Willow added determinedly.

“Get no argument from me,” Faith had so very nearly been one of the demon’s victims, left to die in a disused ammo bunker on Norfolk Naval Base. “At least he’s stopped dressing his victims up in old wedding gowns.”

“Yeah, that was probably a residual thing from his host,” Willow pointed out.

“So how do we stop him?” Faith wanted to know.

“Best I can work out,” Willow started to explain, “the act of killing the host frees the demon to possess its next host. The host is always male but as we’ve no idea how long this demon can survive outside of a host, isolating it from any prospective male just won’t cut it.”

“You’ve got an idea?” Faith asked.

“Well,” Willow frowned for a moment before continuing, “I should be able to hold the demon in the host while you kill him…a bullet in the brain is probably best.”

“You’re one bad-ass-Wicca,” Faith smiled.

“I do what I can,” Willow admitted, “but we must be one hundred percent sure we’ve got the demon, right?”

“Right,” Faith agreed.

“I mean this guy might be a scumbag rapist, but he’s still human,” Willow pointed out.

“Hey, he can always be accidentally shot resisting arrest,” Faith said with a smirk; having been a victim of rape she had no sympathy for rapists, human or otherwise.

Opening her mouth to speak Willow paused for a moment; she’d been about to say that accidentally killing someone was bad, even if they were a rapist. But then she remembered what had happened to Faith and all those other women.

“Whatever,” Willow shrugged.

“Okay then, its agreed,” Faith stood up and hitched up her gun belt like a sheriff in an old western movie.

“We find the perp, check he’s the demon and do the mojo,” Willow said slowly.

“Then I cap him in the head,” Faith said without much emotion, “I better call Colonel Mann and get a Lettre de Carte sent down here soonest.”

“Yeah,” Willow nodded, “we don’t wanna be arrested by the NYPD for murdering their suspect.”

0=0=0=0


	4. Chapter 4

4.

**The Residence of Eric Lutz, the following day.**

Detective Stabler had been right, checking the cab trip-card had led them straight to 324 West 91st Street, an up market area of New York. Here Elliot and Olivia met up with Faith and Willow just as the front door to the Lutz residence opened and a young woman carrying a massage table was let out of the building by a tall, dark haired man. Watching the young woman manoeuvre her folded up table down the steps to the sidewalk, Willow couldn’t help wondering if she’d been drugged or en-spelled and raped.

“Good massage, thanks,” called the young man.

“Working out some kinks?” Elliot asked as he started up the steps and asked, “Eric Lutz?”

“Yeah,” admitted Lutz, “can I help you?”

“Detectives Benson and Stabler,” Olivia gestured to herself and Elliot before introducing Faith and Willow, “this is Special Agent Lehane and Miss Rosenberg from the Army’s Special Investigation Division.”

Everyone who had a badge or a shield held it up for Lutz’s inspection while Willow just stood there and tried to look official.

“Wow!” Lutz whistled quietly, “I musta done something real bad to get both the NYPD _and_ the US Army pissed at me.”

“Do you mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?” Elliot asked reasonably.

“Yeah,” Lutz shrugged, “why not?”

Leading the way into the house Lutz gave no sign that he was a serial rapist and probably a demon. Walking through the door behind Benson and Stabler, Willow looked around; she saw a well furnished and decorated apartment, nothing overly expensive looking but everything she saw was of good quality. Glancing over at Faith she raised a questioning eyebrow and saw her girlfriend’s eye dart about the room, she leaned closer to Willow and whispered in her ear.

“Ambush cramps,” Faith’s voice was hardly audible.

‘Ambush cramps’ was what Faith called her natural slayer ability to sense danger. For a moment Willow felt conflicted and once again wanted to blurt out that Faith wasn’t a science experiment gone wrong and that she was in fact a slayer. But she didn’t, once again Willow bit her tongue and kept her own counsel, but one day soon she knew that the strain of continually lying to Faith would prove too much and she’d just blurt out the truth.

“What can I do for you?” Lutz asked as they all came to a halt in his tastefully furnished living room.

Willow for one was glad that demons appeared to be going ‘up market’; in her life she’d seen more than her fair share of stinky, dark, dank cellars.

“Tell us how you know Brenda Mitchell?” Stabler asked without preamble.

“I met her on Thursday night,” Lutz replied giving nothing away.

“Really?” Olivia said with faux surprise, she held out a photo taken from the CCTV footage showing Lutz helping Brenda into a cab, “Because you’re looking pretty close.”

“We were getting there…” Lutz said quietly.

Walking around the room Faith started to look for signs that this Lutz guy was a demon. When she’d been held captive she’d been prevented from escaping from her prison by a spell that filled her with dread if she got too close to the door. If she managed to over come the ‘dread spell’ there was another spell on the door that made it feel like her hand and arm had been dipped into molten lead. Both spells were held in place by the demon burning small symbols into the door and it was these symbols that Faith was looking for right now.

“Tried to get there a little too fast?” Olivia asked; Willow noticed a flash of what could be anger (or possibly lust) when Lutz looked at Benson.

“How’s that any of your business,” Lutz smiled knowingly at Olivia.

“Brenda was found a couple of blocks away from here yesterday,” Elliot took up the questioning preventing Lutz from concentrating on his partner, “she’d been brutally attacked.”

“You don’t think I hurt her?” Lutz asked with injured innocence.

“I think she said no,” Olivia jumped in having been ‘tagged’ by Elliot, “but you were revved up and ready to go and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Willow stood watching Benson and Stabler’s, you had to admire their technique, obviously the product of years of working together.

“Actually Brenda said yes…,” Lutz replied forcefully; the look on his face told Willow that he was wondering if Olivia would make a good host for his spawn.

Moving to where she could zap Lutz if the need arose, Willow glanced over at Faith to see her looking behind a wall hanging.

“…and when I woke up she was gone,” Lutz added with false sadness.

Quickly glancing over her shoulder, Faith saw that everyone’s attention was fixed on Lutz. Stealthily she lifted up the edge of the wall hanging she’d been looking at. There it was, hidden under the tapestry was a small symbol burnt into the wall, she recognised it from her own short captivity. Not doubt, even if Brenda had been able to break the hold the demon had over her and had got to the door, she wouldn’t have been able to open it.

“For a lot of girls the morning after can be a little awkward,” Lutz was still spinning his web of lies.

“Especially if they wake up in hospital,” Elliot pointed out.

“I didn’t do anything!” Lutz claimed, once again acting like an innocent man.

“So, she beat herself up?” Willow spoke for the first time, she’d noticed Faith looking at something behind a wall hanging and she wanted to keep Lutz’s attention firmly on Benson, Stabler and herself.

“NO!” Lutz rounded on Willow and just for an instant she thought she saw his eyes burn with the fires of Hell, “Maybe she got jumped on her way home.” Lutz regained control of himself and once again became the innocent guy defending himself, “Look I met a cute girl in a bar we hit it off and I got lucky, that’s not a crime.”

“But robbery is,” Elliot bent down and picked up a black, leather document case with ‘US ARMY’ stamped on it in white lettering; Elliot examined the case and saw that the wire and lead seal were still intact, “It’s still sealed,” he announced with regret.

“I wouldn’t go through someone else’s things,” Lutz claimed.

Looking over to where Faith stood by the front door, Willow saw her nod in Lutz’s direction. Walking over Willow and Faith held a whispered conversation as the two detectives continued to ‘tag team’ their suspect. Faith lifted the corner of the hanging to show the mark to Willow.

“Just like the one he used to hold me in my cell,” Faith told Willow.

“You’re sure?” Willow wanted to know and got a firm answering nod from Faith, “Well if you’re sure…”

“I’m sure,” Faith confirmed, “you?”

“I think I’ve seen enough for now,” Willow admitted, “we can come back tonight and make sure.”

…Detective I’m trying to help you,” the look Lutz gave Olivia sent shivers down Willow’s spine and set off all her alarm bells; if she’d not been sure that Lutz was a demon before she was now.

“I think I need to call my lawyer,” Lutz speared Olivia with a look that appeared to freeze the detective in place.

“I-I don’t think we need to do that,” Willow said as she sensed Faith go for the automatic pistol she carried under the leather jacket she was wearing today, “I think we’ve totally seen everything we need to,” she smiled at Lutz with her mouth but not with her eyes, “we’ll be going now.”

“Yeah, okay,” Elliot seemed to sense there was something odd going on here and interposed himself between Lutz and his partner, “we’re done.”

Taking Olivia by the arm he steered her towards the door. Stepping right up to Lutz, Faith stared him in the eye until he looked away. She picked up the document case and headed for the door with Willow by her side.

“You can’t take that,” Lutz called after Faith as he saw her walk off with the case.

“Yeah we can,” Faith turned and rested her hand nonchalantly on the butt of the holstered pistol she wore on her hip, “Federal property,” she smiled daring the demon to say otherwise.

Oh yes he wants me, Faith told herself as she backed out the door; she wondered if the demon recognised her from the time he’d kept her prisoner and ‘used’ her. Or was she just another piece of meat to be used, impregnated and eventually discarded.

Out on the sidewalk again, Stabler gave his partner a concerned look.

“Hey, what’s up with you Liv?” Stabler asked, his concern for his partner plain for all to hear.

“I-I don’t know,” Olivia Benson put her hand to her forehead and swayed a little, “it was like…”

“Like he was looking right into your head and trying to make you do something you didn’t want to do?” Willow asked.

“That’s right,” Olivia turned to look at Willow, “how did you…?”

“I’ve seen it all before,” Willow smiled as she looked into Olivia’s eyes; she could tell that the compulsion spell the demon had used hadn’t taken full effect and Detective Benson would soon be back to normal.

“You mean like hypnotism?” Elliot asked; he looked as if he was about to rush back up the steps and break down the door to get at Lutz.

“Hey, big guy,” Faith put her hand on Elliot’s chest and exerted gentle pressure holding the big detective in place, “Olivia’ll be fine, right Will?”

“Yeah,” Willow nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine El,” Olivia called.

“There must be a law against hypnotising an NYPD officer,” Stabler pleaded, he looked down as Faith removed her hand from his chest, “or if there isn’t there should be.”

“Is that how…?” Olivia left the rest of the question unsaid.

“If he’s our guy,” Willow shrugged, “then yes,” she made up a believable story on the spot. “he probably draws them in with his dark mojo and slips something into their drink then…wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am!” Willow took a deep breath, “I’m ninety percent certain he’s our guy.”

“Just what is it you do for ASID, Miss Rosenberg?” Olivia asked slowly.

“Oh,” Willow smiled disarmingly, “stuff.”

“Stuff, huh?” Elliot raised a sceptical eyebrow before getting back to the case in hand, “so he’s our man?”

“I’d say so,” Willow agreed, “but you can’t arrest him just on my say so…”

“Yeah, we’ll need to prove it,” Olivia said as they started to walk towards the car they’d all arrived in.

“Look,” Faith spoke up for the first time since leaving the house, “I better get this back to the army,” she held up the case, “then I think Will an’ I need to see if Sergeant Mitchell’s remembered anything else…”

“Okay,” Stabler agreed, “we’ll see if there’s any more evidence so we can get a warrant, we’ll see you at the precinct later?”

“Yeah sure,” agreed Faith as she took Willow by the arm and led her on down the street, “see ya later detectives,” she called as she picked up the pace almost dragging Willow along the sidewalk behind her.

“Hey!” Willow complained as she was pulled around a corner.

“Hold up,” Faith stopped and walked back a couple of steps and looked back around the corner to see Stabler and Benson start to drive off back to the precinct.

“What’s going on Faith?” Willow demanded breathlessly.

“Sometime in the next thirty minutes our brave girls and boys in blue are gonna realise that this,” Faith held up the case, “is all the evidence they need for a warrant.”

“Oh!” Willow looked wide eyed at the case, “Shouldn’t you…”

“Yeah I should,” Faith agreed, “but I’m not going to. It’s gonna take an hour for Stabler and Benson to work out we never got back to Fort Hamilton and maybe five seconds for them to work out what we’re doing.”

“And what are we doing?” Willow frowned, since Faith had been to college she’d developed a real sneaky streak.

“We’ve got an hour, maybe two to prove that thing’s a demon and kill it before the police catch up with us,” Faith pointed out.

“I thought we’d come back and do it tonight,” Willow pointed out.

“Nah,” Faith shook her head, her dark curls bouncing around her face in that way that always turned Willow on, “He’ll be long gone by then…bet-cha demon-boy is packing his bags and phoning for a ticket on the first plane outta the country.”

“Darn!” Willow’s hands balled into fists as she looked back towards Lutz’s house.

“What ya got on ya,” Faith asked, “mojo wise?”

“Usual stuff,” Willow looked into the large handbag she carried suspended from a strap over her shoulder.

“Enough to find out if he’s the real deal?” Faith wanted top know.

“Yeah, sure,” Willow shrugged, “as long as he’s got some basic stuff like salt in his kitchen.”

“Right,” Faith started to walk towards Lutz’s house, “if he’s not we can always order in!”

Walking quickly back down the street, Willow and Faith soon found themselves outside three-two-four again. Reaching for her weapon, Faith started up the steps to the front door while Willow stayed back on the sidewalk. Just as Faith reached the door it was pulled open by Lutz. Standing there with a suitcase in his hand Lutz stared at Faith in surprise. Realising that the demon must have recognised her after all, Faith pushed the demon back into the house. Stumbling back a couple of paces the demon laughed in Faith’s face.

“Come back for more, couldn’t get enough of me the last time?” sneered the demon, he looked at the gun in Faith’s hand, “What ya gonna do, shoot me?” This time the demon laughed, “Please do, it’ll just help me get away!”

“God-damn-it!” Faith muttered as she holstered her weapon; the demon was right; she watched him start to move towards the kitchen, “NO YA DON’T!”

With a yell, Faith hurled herself at the demon, they both fell to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs. If the demon got to the kitchen, he could get a knife and commit suicide. Once free of his human body he’d be able to possess another man and continue in his evil, raping ways.

Although the demon struggled violently, Faith found that he wasn’t a match for her enhanced strength and her combat experience. By the time Willow came through the door, Faith had him restrained in the plastic cuffs she always carried in the pockets of her jacket.

“Okay, Will,” Faith climbed off the still struggling demon, “time to do your mojo.”

“Right,” Willow emptied the contents of her bag onto a handy table, “I need salt for this to work properly.”

Faith rushed off into the kitchen, there were some sounds that indicated things being thrown onto the floor and a couple of seconds later, Faith reappeared with a large container of salt in her hand.

“Use the salt to make a circle around demon-boy,” she ordered Faith.

“You’re spells are useless against me, witch!” bragged the demon.

“Yeah, yeah,” Willow sighed tiredly as she started to mix herbs together in a little metal bowl she’d retrieved from her bag, “like I’ve never heard that one before.”

“Hey Willow,” Faith came to stand next to the witch having finished encircling the demon with salt, “is there anyway of getting the demon outta this guy without killing him?”

Willow stopped what she was doing and stared at Faith for a moment.

“Look,” Faith shrugged, “chances were he was a decent guy before…”

“I’m sorry Faith, honey,” Willow really was sorry, she had no great wish to kill an innocent but once he’d been taken over by the demon, Lutz, whoever he’d been was dead, “But its like with a vampire…nothing but the memories of the host remain.”

“Okay,” Faith nodded resignedly, “if ya sure,” she pulled her pistol and pointed it at Lutz’s head.

The demon inside Lutz screamed as it struggled against the plastic cuffs.

“Here goes,” Willow started to chant her spell as she sprinkled the mixture of herbs and rare earths over the prone body of the demon. 

The creature screamed hideously as it writhed under the rain of powder and just for a second it reverted back to its natural demonic state. The mixture that Willow had concocted not only exposed the demon’s true self, but, along with the salt it would trap the demon inside the host’s body.

“Oh my!” Willow gasped as her eyes locked on the demons gigantic member, “Wow that’s a biggy!”

“Willow!?” Faith called waiting to be told what to do.

“Okay sweetie,” Willow called over the demon’s cries of rage, “shoot it in the head!”

The round from Faith’s gun drilled a neat hole through the demon’s head and blew out the back of its skull. A great fan of bone fragments, blood and brain matter spread across the floor. As the echo of the gunshot faded and the demon’s cries were stilled, Willow and Faith looked down at Lutz’s body.

“At least he can rest in peace now,” Willow said softly.

The sound of a car’s tires screeching to a halt outside brought them both back to the here and now.

“Which is more than can be said for us,” Faith put her weapon on a coffee table in full view of anyone coming into the room, “at least for a while,” she smiled reassuringly at Willow, “ya better put ya hands up, Will, ya don’t wanna be shot by mistake.”

0=0=0=0


	5. Chapter 5

5.

**16th Precinct, SVU Squad Room.**

Looking up, Captain Cragen saw ADA Kim Greylek, open the door to his office and walk in.

“Have you seen this?” Greylek said without preamble as she waved an official looking document under Cragen’s nose.

“Erm, yes I have,” Cragen replied levelly, he was well aware of what was printed on that piece of paper and who’s signatures it carried.

A couple of hours earlier, his detectives, Benson and Stabler had left the suspect, Eric Lutz after questioning him in the company of Special Agent Lehane and Miss Rosenberg. On the pretext of returning some army documents to Fort Hamilton, Lehane and Rosenberg had parted company with Benson and Stabler who had then returned to the squad room. However, instead of returning to Fort Hamilton, Lehane and Rosenberg had doubled back and gone back to Lutz’s house.

Realising there was something amiss when they couldn’t contact Lehane and Rosenberg at Fort Hamilton, Benson and Stabler had returned to Lutz’s home and once again gained access. Here they found Lehane and Rosenberg standing over the freshly shot body of Eric Lutz. The only word for what had happened to Lutz was ‘executed’. In what sounded like a most surreal five minutes, Lehane and Rosenberg then calmly admitted to killing Lutz. Next Lehane had suggested that the SVU detectives should search the house explaining that they would find either photographs or other images of Lutz assaulting his other victims. Finally, Rosenberg had handed Benson an envelope that had contained the piece of neatly typed paper that ADA Greylek was now holding in her hand.

Sure enough, after Lehane and Rosenberg had been arrested for murdering Lutz and returned to the Precinct (where they’d remained in separate interview rooms not saying a word) a search team had been dispatched to Lutz’s house. Within minutes of starting a thorough search a computer was found. On examining the computer’s drives the tech support officer working on the case found files containing images, both still and moving, of Lutz sexually assaulting women. So far tech support had found forty files and they were still searching.

“The bearer,” Greylek started to quote from the words on the piece of paper, “has done, what has been done, by my authority and for the good of the nation…”

You had to admire whoever had thought that one up, Cragen smiled to himself. That one short sentence allowed whoever was carrying the letter to do anything they wanted to without whoever had actually signed the paper admitting that they’d authorised anything illegal. Patiently, Cragen waited for Greylek to finish reading.

“…and it’s signed by the Attorney General, the Security of Defence and the President herself!” Greylek shook her head in disgust, “Just how naive do they think we are?”

“Well,” Cragen sat back in his chair and studied the agitated ADA for a moment before continuing with what he was about to say, “I’ve seen the President’s signature before and it looks genuine to me.”

“You can’t seriously be suggesting that…” Greylek looked at Cragen and realised that, yes, Cragen was suggesting that they should ignore a murder, “…but…not even the President can ride rough shod over the constitution.”

“Look at it from my point of view,” Cragen said softly as he gestured for Greylek to take a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk, “Special Agent Lehane and Miss Rosenberg by their actions have cleared up at least forty sexual assaults that not even the victims knew about.” Cragen paused waiting for that to sink in before continuing, “Plus, they’ve dealt with a case, which I might add, you yourself said we had little chance of winning without more evidence. Also, without more evidence we could never have got a search warrant and found that computer…”

“Are you saying we should let them go on the say so of the dubious legality of this…this…” Greylek struggled to find the right words, she found some that would do for the time being, “…death warrant…and that’s what it amounts to.”

“As I see it they’ve done the City of New York and the NYPD a favour,” Cragen pointed out.

“You do!” Greylek exclaimed horrified, “You’re going to release them without charge aren’t you?”

“Once I’ve had those signatures authenticated,” Cragen nodded his head, “yes I am. I will however warn them never to involve themselves in a SVU case ever again.”

“Great!” Greylek laughed mirthlessly, “Come to New York, murder a suspect and be sent on your way with a mere slap on the wrist…if this ever gets out…”

“It’s not likely to,” Cragen pointed out, “I expect this will all be buried under the cloak of National Security…”

“Well that might be alright for you,” Greylek got angrily to her feet, “but I’m going to see those two burn for what they did! I might have had to let Kersey go but this is going too far,” she snapped, “Once you let agents of the Federal Government go round executing suspects, just where do you think it’ll end?”

“I don’t know Ms Greylek,” Captain Cragen sighed, “but I think you’ll be wasting your time.”

“It’s my time to waste,” Greylek headed for the door, she paused with her hand resting on the door knob, “Where are they now?”

“Miss Rosenberg is in Interview One,” Cragen sighed tiredly, “and Detective Munch is questioning Agent Lehane in Interview Two.”

“Right,” Greylek opened the office door, “Interview One it is.”

0=0=0=0

**Interview Room Two.**

Looking up at the sound of the door opening, Faith watched as Detective ‘Big Ears’ and his partner (Faith dredged her memory for the guy’s name…Tutuola) walk into the room. Big-Ears sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table from Faith, while Tutuola took up position by the door. Big-Ears, or Detective Munch as he was more properly called, placed a file on the table between them, opened it and started to look through the pages. He took his time and never said a word, Faith smiled.

“Ya needn’t bother with all the games,” she told Munch, “its interrogation one-oh-one, ‘how to make your suspect feel uncomfortable’. You’re also hoping that the silent treatment will make me say something…” Faith raised an eyebrow, “…which it has but I don’t think this is what ya wanted to hear.” Faith’s smile got slightly wider, “An’ if I’m a suspect shouldn’t I have my lawyer present?”

“Oh you’re not a suspect,” Munch informed her, “you’re here as a possible witness to a crime that took place several years ago…” he paused to see what effect his words had on Faith; none he decided after a moment or two, “…the ninth of February, nineteen-ninety-nine to be precise…”

“Go ahead shoot,” Faith shrugged; that date would put it before she’d gone into a coma, so she’d remember nothing from that time; of course she wasn’t going to tell this cop that, she’d let him waste his time.

“What can you tell me about a break in at Ray’s Sporting Goods store,” once again Munch looked up into Faith’s face to gauge her reaction, once again there was none, “in Sunnydale, California.”

Yes! Munch kept his face straight, the mention of Sunnydale had made Lehane’s eyes flicker. The mere mention of the town’s name had caused more reaction in the woman than he’d seen her display since she’d been brought to the precinct.

“Say what?” Faith shrugged; this was about the first clue she’d come across, independent of what Willow or the Army had told her about her past. “Sorry doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Well maybe this’ll help jog you’re memory,” Munch took a sheet of paper from the file and slid it across the table for Faith to see.

The first time Munch had found the photo, his computer had mysteriously burst into flames. When he’d searched for the image again it had disappeared from the CHiP’s website where he’d originally found it. It had taken him weeks to find it again, this time he’d found it on the website of a California Sheriff’s office in a place called Charming, along with an old ‘wanted’ notice. Sunnydale PD wanted to talk to Faith Lehane about a break in and the assault on two of Sunnydale’s finest.

By sheer force of will, Faith stopped herself from grabbing Munch and beating him to a pulp in an attempt to find out where he’d got this picture from. The image might be in black and white, grainy and very slightly out of focus but Faith could plainly see a much younger version of herself standing in what looked like a sporting goods store with a bow in her hand. But what was even more shocking was the other girl in the photo with her.

“Now,” Munch pointed to Faith’s figure in the photo, “that’s obviously you…can you tell me who the blonde girl is?”

God-damn-it, she could, Faith stopped herself from saying anything, now was not the time for a violent outburst. But the big question was…what the hell was a young Mrs Finn, wife of her C/O, doing robbing a store with her in a town in California? Buffy Finn had always told Faith that they’d never met before they’d come into contact with each other in Iraq. Several unpleasant thoughts started to go through Faith’s mind one after another.

Why had Mrs Finn, Buffy Summers as she was at the time, come to see her in hospital in Iraq? Faith now knew that Buffy was one of these super-women, a slayer, so what had been her real motivation? Faith also began to wonder about Willow’s true motives. Willow was one of Buffy’s friends from way back, yet she’d always insisted that the first time Faith and herself had met was in Jeffersonville, where they’d ended up hunting aliens and sleeping together.

This was all too weird and yelling and demanding answers from the cop would probably get her into more trouble. It looked to Faith’s trained investigator’s mind that she was indeed in some sort of trouble. The thing to do was to act normally, this wasn’t too difficult, she couldn’t tell the detective anything because she had no memories from nineteen-ninety-nine. But it looked like it was about time that she started her own investigation, she needed to know the truth about her past.

“I’m sorry officer,” Faith smiled innocently at Munch, “I don’t know what you mean.” Faith glanced at the picture again, “Yeah, okay the dark haired teenager _could_ be me, but it isn’t. Plus I can say hand on heart that I don’t remember ever breaking into a store and stealing a bow…and as for this blonde chick,” Faith shrugged, “never seen her before in my life.”

“I see…” Munch began but was interrupted by the door opening slowly.

Both Munch and Tutuola turned to look at the door as it swung open. It came slowly to a halt but no one came in…at first.

0=0=0=0

**Interview Room One.**

Sensing the ADA’s anger before she’d even entered the room, Willow took a deep calming breath and let it out slowly just as the door opened to reveal ADA Greylek. Without saying a word, Greylek strode across the room and slammed the letter down on the table in front of Willow.

“What the hell is the meaning of this?” Greylek demanded, “And where did you get it from? You know forgery is a serious offence. What with the murder charges you and your friend will be facing I doubt either of you will be out of prison before you’re both very old.”

Making a show of studying the letter, Willow paused before replying to the ADA’s charges.

“Erm,” Willow looked up innocently at Greylek, “I believe it’s called a ‘Lettre De Carte’ and it was sent to Chief Lehane and myself by General Brittles, United States Army and those signatures aren’t forgeries.”

“Who the hell do you think you are coming into my city and just…” Greylek never got the chance to finish what she was saying because Willow Rosenberg got slowly to her feet and appeared to grow until she dominated the room.

“Oh give it up Ms Greylek,” Willow signed as she somehow managed to _loom_ over ADA Greylek, “you haven’t got a chance in hell of winning. Do you think any jury would convict once they found out what Lutz was doing?”

“But…” Greylek tried to speak but Willow interrupted her once again.

“Look, you don't have to like it,” Willow explained, “you just have to accept it. But if you do push for a trial you’ll get nowhere.” Willow didn’t smile, she knew how much this must be hurting the ADA, she was a good woman who simply wanted to do her job, “Try and prosecute and you’ll find no charges will be filed. If they are, it'll be a mistrial.” Willow started heading towards the still open door, “If by some miracle Faith and myself are convicted...we’ll get a Presidential pardon within a day.”

ADA Greylek looked at Willow as her anger grew and grew. Everything she’d worked for, everything she believed in was being trampled underfoot by this infuriatingly calm redhead.

“Now its time for Faith and myself to leave,” Willow walked out of the interview room right in front of Greylek’s dumbfounded eyes.

Rushing after Willow, Kim Greylek opened her mouth to call for a police officer to stop the redhead from leaving. Much to her surprise she found that even in a police precinct house there was never a police officer when you needed one. Casting caution to the wind she stepped towards Willow with every intention of grabbing her and stopping her from leaving herself.

“Don’t even think about it, Ms Greylek,” Willow held up her hand causing the ADA to freeze in place. “I’m sorry, Ms Greylek,” Willow said to the statue-like woman, “but it couldn’t be helped, Lutz had to die.”

Continuing out of the outer office, Willow headed for the other interview room. Casting a minor spell to open the door a minute or so before she arrived, she found herself the centre of attention when she did finally walk into the room.

“Officers,” Willow nodded pleasantly to the two detectives before turning her attention to Faith, “Time for us to leave Sweetie.”

“Cool,” Faith got up, “nice to have met ya Detectives,” she smiled, “sorry I couldn’t help you with ya case.”

Before going and joining Willow by the door, Faith palmed the piece of paper with the image of herself and Buffy Finn on it and slipped it into the pocket of her jacket. It was a good starting point for her investigation into her own past. For now she’d say nothing to Willow, she didn’t think Willow would betray her but she was mixed up in something as was Buffy Finn.

Walking through the squad room towards the door, worrying thoughts started to enter Faith’s mind. If Buffy Finn knew about her past and by extension Willow must know something; just where did it end? Colonel Finn? Colonel Mann? General Brittles? What about the Army, the President even?

“What’s wrong Faith?” Willow asked as they walked out onto the street.

“Erm nothing,” Faith shook her head and smiled; did Willow really love her or was…?

“You looked like you’d seen a ghost or something,” Willow replied as the walked along the sidewalk together.

“I was just thinking of all the women that Lutz musta raped,” Faith covered her real concerns, “we’ll have to find them all.”

“Yeah but that’s a job for the FBI or someone,” Willow explained, “Our job’s done we can go home now.”

“Yeah,” Faith nodded slowly, “lets go home.”

Once she was back at Fort Drum she could start to find out the truth about ‘Faith Lehane’.

THE END.


End file.
